Overview

Settle Up is a shared-expense tracker that helps groups record spending and settle what members owe. It suits travelers, flatmates, couples, event organizers and friends who need flexible splits. Its strongest case is the combination of detailed expense allocation and guidance on settling balances; the catch is that receipt photos and recurring expenses require Premium.

Key features

Settle Up supports weighted shares, expenses paid by multiple people, incomes and itemized bills. That range is useful when a simple equal split would misstate who owes what. It also shows who should pay next and minimizes the number of transactions between group members, reducing the back-and-forth needed to clear a shared balance.

Groups can be shared by link or QR code, and expenses can be tracked offline, with changes synchronized when connectivity returns. Support for all currencies and real-time exchange rates suits groups traveling across borders. Members can also settle debts directly to a group member’s Lightning address; Settle Up charges no fee beyond network fees.

The free capabilities include transaction filters and statistics, CSV export by email, read-only access, backup and synchronization, widgets and shortcuts. Premium adds ad-free use, receipt photos, expense categories, recurring transactions, Excel export and group colour choices. Those additions are most useful to groups that want supporting images or repeated costs recorded in the app; groups that mainly need to log and divide expenses can start with the free tier.

Pricing

Settle Up is freemium. The Free plan costs 0.00 USD per free and includes core expense tracking, CSV export and group sharing, but displays ads. It is the sensible starting point for casual groups that do not need receipt photos or recurring transactions.

Monthly Premium costs 3.99 USD per month; Yearly Premium costs 19.99 USD per year. Both include ad-free use, receipt photos, recurring and future expenses, custom categories, Excel export and statistics. The yearly option costs less over a full year than paying the monthly price for twelve months, but commits the buyer to an annual term. Premium is a better fit for regular users who want these tools for their own account.

Group Premium enables Premium features for everyone in one group. The one-week option is 5.99 USD per once, the two-week option 9.99 USD per once, the one-month option 14.99 USD per month, the two-month option 29.99 USD per once and the one-year option 39.99 USD per year. Shorter terms suit a single trip or event; the annual term fits a group that expects to keep using the shared features. Premium and Group Premium are also offered without a published price, so those options require custom pricing.

Platforms

Settle Up is available on Android, iOS, web and Windows, giving groups options beyond mobile apps. Its public API documentation says mobile app capabilities are accessible through the API and identifies Firebase Realtime Database as the backend.

Who it's for

Settle Up is a strong fit for groups with uneven contributions, multiple payers or costs in different currencies, particularly when members may be offline during a trip. It is less compelling for a group that only wants to split occasional bills equally and has no use for its more detailed accounting; those users may find the Premium conveniences unnecessary.

Privacy-conscious users should account for the group-sharing model: members can see a user’s name, email, profile pictures and entered transaction and other group data. The privacy policy says data are stored in Google Cloud Platform services Firebase and Google App Engine in the United States, provided only over HTTPS, and handled in compliance with privacy regulations such as GDPR. Android users can export individual groups as CSV in the app; more extensive exports can be requested from the company.

Support lists separate contact emails for Android, iOS, web and Windows app feedback and says users will receive a reply. That is a practical route for platform-specific issues, though it does not promise a response time.

Pros and cons

Pro: Weighted shares, multiple payers and itemized bills accommodate more complicated group spending than an equal-split ledger.
Pro: Offline use, real-time exchange rates and settlement guidance are useful for groups managing expenses while traveling.
Pro: CSV export and synchronization are included among the free capabilities, while Lightning payments can settle debts without an additional Settle Up fee.
Con: Receipt photos and recurring expenses sit behind Premium, so groups wanting those records need a paid plan.
Con: Ads remain on the Free plan, and group-wide Premium requires its own term-based purchase.
Con: Group members can see personal profile details as well as group transactions, which may not suit people who want to keep those details private within a group.

Alternatives

Choose Splitwise if its Trip Pass plans or supported API platform better suit your group; it also has a free plan and Android, iOS and web apps. For a free mobile option with no ads or limits, tricount is worth considering, though its listed platforms are Android and iOS.

For sending money rather than managing group expenses, Wise offers a free account with no subscription or plan, and charges for what users do. U.S. users comparing payment services can consider Venmo, which has no monthly or setup fees for its business profile but applies transaction fees, or Zelle, which typically has no consumer fees and requires an eligible U.S. checking or savings account.

PhonePe, Remitly and BHIM are other payment options to compare. For broader browsing, see Peer-to-Peer Payment Apps or Personal Finance Software.

Verdict

Choose Settle Up if your group needs flexible expense splits, offline access and a clearer route to settling balances across currencies. The free tier covers core tracking, but users who need receipt photos or recurring transactions should weigh Premium’s individual and group terms. Look elsewhere if your priority is a no-ad, no-limits free mobile expense tracker rather than detailed settlement tools.

	BudgetBuddie	Settle Up
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Free trial	Yes	No
Paid from	$9.50/mo	—
Open source	No	No
Platforms	Android	Android, iOS, Web, Windows
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Budgeting tools	Yes	—
Net-worth tracking	Yes	—
Account sync	automatic	—
Mobile apps	android	—

BudgetBuddie vs Settle Up

BudgetBuddie

Settle Up